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Committee Examines Wish List

ST. MARYS — Members of a local school committee worked to narrow down a “wish list” of items recently submitted by district administration during a meeting on Thursday.

The members of the St. Marys Board of Education held a tour in late January, during which each of the district’s administrators noted the items on their lists.

Thursday evening, members of the St. Marys Board of Education Buildings and Grounds Committee — consisting of board members Ralph Wiley and Brian Little, as well as Business Manager Kurt Kuffner and Interim Superintendent Jerry Skiver, met at the administrative offices to discuss the more than 40 items on the St. Marys City Schools Permanent Improvement project wish list. Kuffner noted the current unencumbered PI balance is $296,646, with the next payment into the fund of $150,000 in the end of June with the next collections.

As the committee went through the list, Kuffner noted what items were to be done in house or if efforts had already been made to address them.

Items that came up for discussion included the purchase of 100 banquet tables for testing/other events at a cost of $12,900, the replacing of four lathes in the metal shop area at a cost of $13,197, a crowd control retractable system for the commons area at a cost of $3,445.20, construction of a concrete or asphalt walkway from the front of the high school-middle school complex to State Route 66 at a cost of $17,291, epoxy flooring in the new locker room building at a cost of $19,291.50, a computer and printer for the new athletic complex at a cost of $2,000, internet access to the new athletic complex at a cost of $1,672.21, a new PA system for the soccer complex at a cost of $9,657, an ice machine for the soccer complex at a cost of $3,141.95, mobile soccer goals for the turf field at a cost of $5,020 or $6,130, the purchase of a sweeper for the synthetic turf field — of which Kuffner noted the district may go in halfway with the Wapakoneta School District — at a cost of $6,250 (for the entire sweeper, not the district’s share), a team shelter at the soccer field at a cost of $12,240, the purchase of 60 computers and licenses at a cost of $44,700, sealing and re-stripping of the asphalt in the bus loop at St. Marys Primary School at a cost of approximately $3,800, installing an 8-foot tack strip above the windows in the kindergarten and first-grade classrooms at St. Marys Primary School at a cost of $480.79, upgrading the bus radios to narrowband at a cost of $11,772 and reprogramming the existing radios to narrowband — something Little stressed the district should do because it will put the school on the same frequency as the rest of the emergency responders in the county and it will be something that is required in the near future — at a cost of $800, the purchase of a new 84-passenger school bus — which committee members debated purchasing two instead of just one — at a cost of $88,000 each, the purchase of a used four-wheel drive pick-up truck with a snow plow at a cost of $28,789, a roll-up door at the men’s restroom in the commons area at the high school at a cost of $2,896, the purchase of a scissor lift at a cost of $4,950, the purchase of two Chariott floor scrubbers for the Primary and Intermediate buildings at a cost of $10,812, crack sealing the playground asphalt at the St. Marys Intermediate School at a cost of $8,250 and curb assessment at Shipman Road for a cost of $30,000.

Committee members noted the possibility of using the LFI funds toward some of the items — such as the purchase of the lathes, the asphalt walkway and the improvement to Shipman Road.

“So basically, the proposal to the full board would be to fund part of these with LFI and the other portion with the PI so to not fully encumber (PI),” Wiley said.

Little also suggested checking into the option of funding some of the items through the maintenance fund, as well.

“Whatever on this list that we can use with the maintenance fund, I think we should try to use that as much as we can,” Little said. “We’ve been holding onto that money, if we can use it, use it.”

Wiley agreed they can look into the possibility.

“We’re going to start seeing some of these exterior maintenance items, and if they’re eligible expenses, that’s what the fund was established for,” Wiley said.

“These were typically PI items, and now with the OSFC project, the half-mill set aside has to be for maintenance, so whatever those eligible maintenance items are, we should be using that fund rather than the PI fund.”

Little noted also using LFI funds instead of just PI monies would be beneficial.

“LFI, that’s still up in the air, but I don’t think asking to use $200,000 out of that to help fund everything else, with the financial problems that we’re having right now to keep from depleting the PI fund and to be able to get these items that we need and can desperately use, that’s what the money is there for, in my opinion,” Little said.

Wiley noted they do not have to say “yes” to everything on the list now.

“We don’t have to do all of these at this meeting,” he said.

“We can say, let’s wait until the second half of this year, we can wait until anytime. Buildings and Grounds can meet at the request.”

Committee members decided to scratch the following items but noted the full board could add them back on at the next meeting if it would like: A new end table for the high school assistant principal’s office at a cost of $425, a privacy fence for the soccer complex at a cost of $6,068.16, an 8-foot sidewalk to the north high school gym entrance at a cost of $3,000 and acquiring and mounting a large clock for the playground at St. Marys Primary School at a cost of $1,900.

Committee members also requested the soccer coaches to attend the next board meeting to answer questions about the purchase of mobile soccer goals and the team shelter items on the athletics wish list, as well as to ask Memorial High School Principal Dave Lewis for more information on the crowd control item on his wish list.

Kuffner said he would find out more information on the epoxy flooring requested by athletics, as well as the information on the additional 60 computers requested by technology and seeing if the woodworking class could create cubbies to be used at St. Marys Primary School.

He said he would also look into the option of using money from the maintenance fund toward the sealing and re-stripping of the asphalt in the bus loop at St. Marys Primary School and toward the crack sealing of the playground asphalt at the St. Marys Intermediate School.

From Thursdays meeting, the list will head to the full board to be reviewed at its March 14 board meeting, which will be at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium at the high school-middle school complex.